Ranges at Olinda

Ranges at Olinda is a licensed cafe and restaurant at 5 Olinda-Monbulk Road in the middle of the Olinda village strip in the Dandenong Ranges. It runs casual day dining by daylight and a more intimate Australian-Asian menu by night, and for dog owners the draw is the shaded deck at the rear, where dogs are welcome while you work through the scones and the coffee.

The dog setup

Dogs join you on the outside deck at the rear, a relaxed spot with a bit of shade and enough room to settle a dog beside your chair. Staff are known to be friendly toward pets and will often bring a water bowl out, but bring your own to be safe. Indoor seating, with its open fireplaces in the colder months, is for humans only.

What to order

The day menu covers big cooked breakfasts and eggs benedict, gourmet toasted sandwiches and the house mountain bread, with homemade scones and sticky date pudding doing the dessert work. Drinks run to proper barista coffee, specialty chais and Lindt hot chocolate, and the licence covers wine and beer for a slower lunch. Hours are 8am to 3pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 4pm on weekends, with evening service running intermittently, so call ahead if you are aiming for dinner.

Getting there and parking

The venue sits on the main village strip, with street parking along Olinda-Monbulk Road and the Mount Dandenong Tourist Road nearby. Weekend parking in the hills villages fills up, so arrive earlier rather than later on Saturdays and Sundays.

While you're out there

The natural pre-breakfast run is the Old Olinda Golf Course Dog Off Leash Area, just down the hill: more than 50 acres of former fairways where dogs can go off-lead under voice control, though connecting tracks like the Mathias Walking Track stay on-lead. For a shorter leg stretch, The lookout rock sits off the same precinct. When you want another meal with the dog, Olinda Tea House & Restaurant is up the road in the village.

Pepsi: 50 acres of fairway before breakfast is my definition of a well-earned scone.